Overview+of+the+field

toc ICT4D: Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4Dev) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the fields of socioeconomic development, international development and human rights.

Individual governments, top-down vs. bottom up approaches. Does culture matter? etc.

Some issues remain the same: communication and development as it relates to poverty worldwide; access to a specific communication mode, media interventions, and development policy-making challenges for governments and, more recently, international organization, private sector organizations, and nongovernmental organizations. =Approaches=

Modernization
Schramm's 1964 book on Mass Media and National Development !What worked well for developed, democratic Western nations would work well for developing nations. This involves a linear, one way approach: there is information flow from a government to people.

Lerner 1958: a stage theory of political development facilitated by the mass media: urbanization, literacy, media exposure, and then integration into modern, participatory society.

[|Rostow 1960]: five steps in economic development -
 * 1) Traditional society
 * 2) Preconditions for take-off
 * 3) Take-off
 * 4) Drive to maturity
 * 5) Age of High mass consumption

Three important characteristics: (i) Role of mass media (ii) Staged/linear nature of the approach (iii) Central role of a nation-state --- No attention to culture

Diffusion of Innovation
Everett Rogers, 1976, - interpersonal sources in the diffusion process. Earlier forms (i.e. Rogers and Shoemaker 1971), diffusion of innovation is linear and unidirectional: a Western government passing down everything. Rogers (1976) different role for communication, highlighted participation, mass mobilization, and group efficacy.

Dependency Paradigm
Coming from especially Latin America. Amin (1974)' Cardoso & Faletto (1979): the relationship between developed and developing nations as one of core and periphery. The obstacles to development are external to the developing nations. Developed nations are at the core, exploit and impact those on the periphery. A developing nation needs to remove itself from the world market and display self-reliance. Crandall and Flamm (1989) look at Brazil.

Monistic-Emancipatory Approach
Mowlana and Wilson (1990) based on Ibh Khaldun (1958) (Khaldun wrote about moving from a simple to complex organization with no separation between society's religion and politics) This is a non-linear approach, involves ethics, spirituality, and an emphasis on the community. It advocates a bottom-up strategy and popular participation. The monistic view requires the unity of god, human beings and nature. NOTTT a central place in the literature.

Culture, Power, and Gender Dimensions
Wilkins and Mody, 2001 - added a greater focus on the process of communication and social change - highlight the role of culture. A critical approach, and emphasize concerns with power and with the gendered nature of development discourse. Social movement theory- sensitivity to specific cultural contexts at specific times and places.

Institutional Theory Approach
Wilson (2004) institutions play a key role in C4D Zucker (1987) argues that institutional theory applies well when looking at groups of organizations over time and assists in examining the environments of organizations as socially constructed normative spheres. For instance, one application is: the abrupt change in many developing and developed nations from a central government agency that planned, controlled, and regulated all of telecommunications in a nation to the increasing role of privatization and a concomitant nation-state institutions. Sandholz (1993): portray the change in Europe from nation-state monopolies to European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Industrial Policy
A country can promote its growth, productivity, and competitive advantage. With the advent of internet, information-related technologies are included. Now, industrial policy includes information and communication-related industries. Mansell and Wehn (1998): specific templates and tools for ways in which developing nations can use ICTs in achieving substantive development. Emphasizes education. National informational structure. There is also a regional lelvel, ie ASEAN, OAU, etc.

Strategic Restructuring Model
Wilson (2004): innovation diffusion with a focus on information and communication technologies as the innovation, as well as on nation-state government policies Model highlights: structure, politics and government policies as dimensions central to ICT diffusions in developing nations. It also adds power to the diffusion model by characterizing diffusion as a negotiation process.

Evolutionary Paradigm
Modelski (1996): looks at the long cycle involving the rise and decline of world powers. Monge, Heiss, and Margoling (2008): over time, an environment selects out certain types of organizations for survival. Levinson (2008): power of evolutionary approaches to help explain the growth of public-private partnership in communication and development arenas.

A Network or Interorganizational Approach
Monge, Heiss, Margoling (2008): link network theory to communication and the evolution of organizations. __A network__ is a collection of nodes or entities that can exist at the individual, organizational, or interorganiational levels.

Ecosystem Approach
This combines the units of a network at the organizational or interorganizational level and the characteristics and components of the environments in which they are set. Drake 2008 - WSIS and its Working Group on Internet Governance - IGF Levinson and Smith (2008): The ecosystem approach allows for examining both the like and unlike organizations involved and the characteristics of their environments, including possible technological uncertainty/complexity, culture and resources.

=Emerging Trends=

Back to the Future Trends
__Nicholas Negroponte of MIT's media lab - One Laptop Per Child:__ modernization and diffusion of innovation __ICT4D:__ top-down/innovation diffusion approach. nation-state/IOs are at the cneter Warschauer (2004) focus on disseminating innocations is not enough: we need to understand the recipient culture __Nation-state's role:__ An interest in ICTs through defense and security policies

New Actors and Roles in Communication and Development
An epistemic community: technology experts Mattli and Buthe 2003: there is much power in standards-setting exercises ICANN, IGF, OECD NGOs, private sector etc - though there are tensions among each of there actors (each with its own culture and interests. each acting in contexts fraught with technological change, increasing interconnections, and sometimes political as well as technological uncertainity.

Three Technology Types and their Uses
Focus is on the nature of a technology itself, and then, its uses in communication and development contexts. __Three types__: open source technologies, mobile technologies, and social media/web 2.0

Ghosh 2004: open source in Spain instead of Microsoft (research on government decisions, roles, and outcomes. Singh 1999: Another trend looks at collaboration (CI or e-science) Last one: link people, craft networks, and shape possible outcomes of the linkages and information exchanged.